“Grand opening, Grand closing!” That’s what it was supposed to be for Jay-Z’s benchmark LP The Black Album. The album that was supposed to be Hova’s last actually ended up being a new beginning for the legendary rapper who would go on to iconic status shortly after The Black Album‘s release. The Black Album officially dropped on November 14th, 2003. The album featured production from Hip-Hop’s elite including Just Blaze, Kanye West, The Neptunes, Timbaland, 9th Wonder, Eminem, Rick Rubin, The Buchanans, DJ Quik and Luis Resto. Although Jay-Z kept his guest appearance list to a minimum, we were still happy to hear Pharrell Williams sing the hook on “Change Clothes.” Unfortunately, this would be the last album that we would see Jay-Z and long-time business partner Damon Dash work collectively together as a team. Still, Jay-Z accomplished what he set out to do, make a classic Hip-Hop LP. The Black Album is still one of the best Hip-Hop albums of our time.
